Tuesday December 27
Well I’m not sure about the others but I had a damn good sleep. Through sheer coincidence just when everyone called it quits after our Neptune party my watch had just finished so off to bed I went. I woke up some time later it being still nigh time feeling exceptionally refreshed. As I got up Hugh informed me that my second shift had just finished and it was time to wake Peter. Hugh it seems had a little nap whilst on watch (severely induced by the excess of alcohol) and must have woken just before my shift had supposedly finished. So wake Peter I did and promptly went back to bed. So four and a half hours sleep to start with, another three in the bag and whilst everyone feels like death warmed up on Tuesday morning I am ready to party all over again.
Sadly a party of one never really cuts the mustard so the day is spent in relative quite with reading and general mellowness.
Wednesday December 28
Prologue: I wasn’t actually going to write anything about today because basically the bulk of the day should have been cancelled due to lack of interest.
Probably one of the worst days we’ve had at sea. It’s a combination of many things, withdrawals from our previous high spirits, homesickness, boredom and probably just sick of the sight of each other. On top of that the day is incredibly hot. I had the remote thermometer outside and whilst it was reading 29c in the coach house of the yacht, it read 44.7c in the sun. It probably hasn’t been much cooler over the past few days but for the last 18 hours or so we have been sailing close hauled into a stiff Northerly wind of 15-20 knots on a choppy Northerly swell. The upshot is that there constant green water over the bow and regular spray over the aft of the yacht and because of that we can’t open any hatches. To compound the scenario Peter has done his maths on the fuel situation (we haven’t been able to get diesel since Exmouth) and it’s cutting it fine if we have to motor all the way to Phuket there-by taking the concept of air conditioning out of our options due to the fact it will dramatically increase fuel consumption. So we “cheery” folk spend the day either sweating down below or tolerating minimal shade and constant sea spray in the face whilst scorching our feet on the deck. Needless to say there was not too much light hearted bantering. Luckily by early evening the wind abated and turned more easterly and things got a whole lot more comfortable with that the motor is back on and tonight it’s a keen eye on the sea as we are now about 60 miles south and 120 miles west of Banda Aceh which means plenty of sea going traffic.
By 1900 hours we start to pick up vessels on our radar that we can’t see with the naked eye and other vessels that we can see, but aren’t coming up on radar! Wooden fishing boats don’t make good radar reflectors. The night is spent pretty much on our toes (no we hadn’t lost the plot and taken up ballet) ducking and weaving fishing boats all I’m glad to say without incident.
Thursday December 29.
Morning brings with it a whole new mood on the boat. We’ve all, without prompting have shaved and showered; myself preferring the – on deck naked with copious buckets of sea water (far too much information?) method. Smelling sweet again we all greet the day with coffees and watch the passing parade of ships. We are now heading east and the traffic is either from India to parts unknown or ships entering or exciting the Malacca Straits, we even pass a few 20 foot dingys often not seeing them until we are nearly on top of them as their hulls are for some stupid reason the exact colour of the sea. Something that isn’t the colour of the sea is the rubbish we have seen float by. Apart from the occasional thong (foot wear not feminine panty type) and small discarded white buoys (no Michael Jackson jokes please) there is sadly a plethora of plastic rubbish, cups, containers, bags etc. “THE DIRTY BASTARDS” we yell each time we pass one. Actually the prior quote I have censored from its original due to creatively explicit content and it’s overt racial vilification.
Some things found in these waters though do make the heart glad and for the first time in ages we are joined by some very excitable dolphins who, as dolphins do when one is armed with a camera, refuse to jump out of the water at exactly the time you need them to for that perfect dolphin-flying-out-of-the-water shot. An hour or so later we spot some water spouting about 100 meters away. Four, yes four whales (escapees from the Japanese “science research” fleet no doubt. As we near the kindly provide us with some very fine fluking and then descend never to be seen by us again. We never-the-less are most chuffed.
Obviously inspired by all this overt aquatic activity we have started to prepare the boat for its delivery. A measured yet determined flurry of activity ensues; scrubbing polishing etc. We are now less than 30 hours away from final destination (less if we can get some favourable winds), so with a bit of luck we will arrive in Phuket boat harbour around 4pm Western Standard Time on Friday the 30th of December. (Please don’t let me have just jinxed our safe arrival by this optimistic prediction).